In 1848, the Fox sisters reported communicating with spirits through rappings in their Hydesville, New York home.[1] Sparked by this revelation, Spiritualists began forming churches and spirit circles throughout the United States in hope of similarly contacting the dead.[2] Wisconsin became a center for the Spiritualist movement, which counted among its followers such dignitaries as the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Lyman Draper and Territorial Governor Nathaniel Tallmadge.[3] The first Milwaukee Spiritualist congregation was founded in 1851.[4] Although the movement’s popularity waned after the 1920s, the Milwaukee area counted three congregational affiliates of the National Spiritualist Association of Churches in 1948.[5] The First Spiritualist Church of West Allis is the sole remaining local congregation.[6] The nation’s only Spiritualist college, the Morris Pratt Institute, is located in Wauwatosa.[7]
This institution, which opened in Watertown, Wisconsin in 1903, grew out of Walworth and Jefferson Counties’ strong Spiritualist communities.[8] Morris Pratt, a follower of renowned local medium Mary Hayes Chynoweth, constructed an elaborate Watertown home for the college.[9] Classes were offered in traditional subjects as well as uniquely Spiritualist fields.[10] Facing declining enrollment and financial difficulties in the 1930s and 1940s, the school relocated to Wauwatosa in 1947.[11] The Institute continues to offer correspondence courses, on-site short courses, and a research library.[12]
While accounts differ, it is possible that Leafy Anderson, founder of the African-American Spiritualist movement in New Orleans, was born in Wisconsin.[13] The Theosophical Society in America, whose founders pursued Spiritualism before codifying beliefs different from traditional Spiritualism, maintains a presence on Milwaukee’s East Side.[14]
Footnotes [+]
- ^ Karen Abbott, “The Fox Sisters and the Rap on Spiritualism,” Smithsonian.com, October 30, 2012, accessed September 21, 2016.
- ^ Mary Farrell Bednarowski, “Spiritualism in Wisconsin in the Nineteenth Century,” Wisconsin Magazine of History 59, no. 1 (Autumn 1975): 4-6.
- ^ Bednarowski, “Spiritualism in Wisconsin in the Nineteenth Century,” 6.
- ^ Bednarowski, “Spiritualism in Wisconsin in the Nineteenth Century,” 6.
- ^ Bednarowski, “Spiritualism in Wisconsin in the Nineteenth Century,” 19; National Spiritualist Association of United States of America, Centennial Book of Modern Spiritualism in America (Chicago, IL: The Association, 1948), 244-245.
- ^ “Directory of Churches,” National Spiritualist Association of Churches website, https://www.nsac.org/churches.php, accessed September 21, 2016. For more on the First Spiritualist Church of West Allis, see “First Spiritualist Church of West Allis,” Meetup.com, accessed September 19, 2016.
- ^ Bednarowski, “Spiritualism in Wisconsin in the Nineteenth Century,” 6; “Morris Pratt Institute (MPI),” National Spiritualist Association of Churches website, https://www.nsac.org/mpi.php, accessed September 21, 2016. The Morris Pratt Institute address is listed as Milwaukee, but it is actually in the City of Wauwatosa. See “City Comprehensive Plan: Map 1.1-1 Jurisdictional Boundaries,” City of Wauwatosa, WI website, http://wauwatosa.net/index.aspx?nid=395, accessed September 21, 2016.
- ^ Bednarowksi, “Spiritualism in Wisconsin in the Nineteenth Century,” 15-18; “History,” Morris Pratt Institute website, accessed September 21, 2016.
- ^ “History,” Morris Pratt Institute website, accessed September 21, 2016; Bednarowski, 17-18.
- ^ “History,” Morris Pratt Institute website, accessed September 21, 2016.
- ^ “Pratt Made Whitewater a Center of Spiritualism,” Whitewater Register, June 15, 1972, Morris Pratt Institute Vertical File, Irvin L. Young Memorial Library, accessed September 21, 2016; Centennial Book, 127.
- ^ “Courses” and “Events,” Morris Pratt Institute website, accessed September 21, 2016; “Morris Pratt Institute (MPI),” National Spiritualist Association of Churches website, https://www.nsac.org/mpi.php, accessed September 21, 2016.
- ^ Jason Berry, The Spirit of Black Hawk: A Mystery of Africans and Indians (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1995), 66-69; Robert L. Johns, “Leafy Anderson,” in Notable Black American Women, vol. 2, ed. Jessie Carney Smith (New York, NY: Gale Research, 1996), 9-11.
- ^ Robert S. Ellwood, “Occult Movements in America,” in Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience: Studies of Traditions and Movements, vol. 2, ed. Charles H. Lippy and Peter W. Williams (New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1988), 717; “Milwaukee Lodge,” Theosophical Society in Milwaukee website, accessed September 21, 2016.
For Further Reading
Bednarowski, Mary Farrell. “Spiritualism in Wisconsin in the Nineteenth Century.” Wisconsin Magazine of History 59, no. 1 (Autumn 1975): 3-19.
National Spiritualist Association of United States of America. Centennial Book of Modern Spiritualism in America. Chicago, IL: The Association, 1948.
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